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Thanks makatakam for sharing that, valuable notes for newbie like me to keep in mind when out in the field. I had the best time flying yesterday evening, flew for yet another hour, for a total of about 7-8 flight hours now with my first Rev! It went so much better in yesterday's flight. I've found my own way around lines setup for the time being until I understand further how they work and behave in relation to the winder. It took me less than 10minutes to get up in the air, after noting every single one of you guy's advise and suggestions here in the thread. So thank you. I'm gonna video what I do, maybe it will be useful for starters that don't yet know how to control the Rev fully. I quickly came to notice the seasoned fliers that advised me with lines advised me the way they did because they were well, seasoned fliers. They already understand everything about the lines and flying the Rev with twisted lines. They are able to launch inches off the ground, inverted, slide, and spin the kite on command, or turn handles over and around all while keeping the kite upright, in order to untwist any lines. It's a tall order for even how "fundamental" it is. A newbie like me, has zero confidence and no knowledge of how to handle the kite yet, let alone launch with lines crossed and twisted, and then unwinding by flying the kite or letting go of handles to untwist or cross over. I was advised to immediately hook the lines onto the kite, don't bother straightening and untwisting the lines yet, as it can be done easier and faster once they are hooked in and tenses up with the kite and some twists might not even be any actual twists after all. Following that resulted in my crazy twisted lines, so badly that the veterans were stumped too and struggled to help me untangle. Took me 30-45mins (with extra help untangling) before I was up in the air. Having the lines tied down to the kite and handles made any turns or cross over hard to manage. So instead, now, i stake my handles, and unwind the lines, all the way down to the kite. But before I hook them to the kite, I spend the additional minute walking back to the stake, and then picking up the lines and separate them by pairs as I walk back again to the kite end. Since the lines are free at this one end, they unfurl on their own and untwist easily and rapidly. the lines are in their individual pairs now, free of any tangles. Then I hook into the kite, parked inverted. Make my way back to the handles, pick them up the right way (crossed since parked inverted). And launch. Freedom. Less than 10mins down from 30-45. Getting the hang of the Rev now, will post video soon Update again soon thanks!!!!

@Wayne Dowler I'm doing JB's tutorial method, straight wind after the first half-8 wind. I'm right handed, I hold the winder in my left firmly no rotation finger in the grip hole, then lead the lines onto the winder with my right hand. Unwinding, those first few times posted above, I did JB's method of having my finger in the winder and walking the lines off the winder, letting the lines unwind itself, all the way to the kite. Along the way, many times the lines would unwind over one another and get caught up on the winder, a quick guide with my hand to unwind the couple of caught lines and then continue walking the lines off the winder. Those were the times I had the holysh** twists stumping veterans. Then I tried a variation of the method for unwinding. Now, with the winder in my left hand and in the grip hole, i tug gently on the lines off the winder a few rounds each time with my free hand, then walk a bit, then tug more off the winder, then walk. I've done it this way the last two times now I flew, and the twists were significantly less and faster to resolve. So I'm gonna probably try it this way a few more times to see how it works out. I think the best tip ive been practicing too is the one dragonfish mentioned, do not let the handles dangle at the end of winding the lines. Thats where they spin, and move into one another. And cause all the crap all the way down through the lines. Thanks all for sharing all these great pointers!!

Wow, gone for the weekend busy practicing on my Rev and didn't expect all this great advice and pointers already! Thank you so much everyone that chimed in! (And reading my long ass post lol) Friday and Sunday I was fortunate enough to have met and introduced myself to a couple veteran local Rev flyers. (dragonfish you'll know them, not sure if they wanna be named here, "S" and "F") I got SOO much amazing advice from the two older ones, it was super cool of them. Friday I caught them a little bit before they were packing up at the end of their evening, but they unpacked and stayed with me for another two whole hours just to help me out. Again, my lines were f***d so badly no clue why, even "S" ended up spending half hour with me untangling it for me, "i haven't seen lines twist this badly in 4 years!" He helped me out after winding up and unwinding lines, it worked out then. Sunday I caught them again they were about to leave in the parking lots already, but "S" was so nice to unpack everything and come fly with me for again another two hours! Talk about amazing Rev community! I learnt to vertical hover with him shadowing me, and control inverted flight, and spin over from parked to launch. Each of these took me nowhere more than 20mins to get the feel and results. It was incredible. He even helped me tune my brakes, one knot in to the handles which made my kite feel noticeably different and tighter, loved it. Shout-out to "S" and "F"!!!! Can't wait to fly more, gonna make more vids as I learn. My lines are getting better unwinding, still ending up stumping the veterans how they wind up like they do but unwind so twisted, but not as badly as before. It's improving. Post again soon! 😁 Fly with you again soon @dragonfish

Thanks all for chiming in, this community is super kick-ass and warm!! I've had a bit more time with my new Rev!! Still not a single hard hit yet, been practicing launch/land and hovers. I have been struggling with a couple things, any tips would be super appreciated and noted in mind the next time I fly (probably this evening or tomorrow). To preface, I've done due diligence prior to purchasing the rev (as you read in the top post) and watched all the tutorial videos by JB. (Free, YouTube not premiuum downloaded episodes) 1. Lines!! Wrapping my lines, I follow JB's method to the T, as far as wrapping it to the holder and keeping lines separated in their own pairs. However, the three or four times I've unwrapped the lines to fly, I have had to spend time untwisting or untangling the lines. Like, a lot of time. For one, I can't tell from standing at the handles which way they have twisted, left or right, which direction is untwisting them or twisting them up even further. Tried tensioning, holding the handles as far apart as possible, hard to determine the direction to untwist. How do you guys figure out which way to turn? I even get my line pairs "inside" each other and have to untangle them by putting a handle through the other. Is there a wrong way of unwrapping the lines off the spool? I feel like I am causing these twists during my unwrapping of the lines off the spool... 2. Flight location origin!! I am struggling staying in the spot I launch from. I very quickly end up moving back and more back, away from my starting position, until I'm out of space against the edge of the park or a fence lol. I take a step or two back to pump air into the dropping sail in attempt to keep the rev in the air/hovering. Pumping arms in place sometimes works, but I notice I'm more often needing a bigger "pump" to keep the kite from dropping...hence taking steps back. And I can't recover the step backs. Like I can't move forward, the kite has no tension. (Unstable wind, a few short moments 1-3mph, then jumps to 8-10 for some moments, constantly) How do you guys manage this? Tips? 3. Flat kite when gusts ends There's multiple times the rev faceplants while landed cause the wind takes a breather. Either forwards (belly down) or backwards (belly up). Kissing the ground. I tried JB's method of shimmying the lines to get some air under the sail but to zero success. I fear scratching the material too by dragging it around like that. So I end up having to walk it back up. When my dual line parafoil kites bite the dust, I am able to relaunch by shimmying either line, and understand how to inflate it back up catching air slowly while on the ground. Doesn't seem to transfer logic to the quad line rev. :l Tips? Thanks everyone, greatly appreciate it.

Hahaha thanks Riff! Here's the dualline video clip for funzies!

Hi all!! Happy to say I've gotten my hands on my very first Rev ever!! It's a used B-series. It came only with one 3 wrap frame. 90#/80 lines and handles. Sleeve. Works for me won't complain, RTF! Managed to find some time to maiden it too. Here's a short video of the very very first flight I had with it after setting it up! Wind ranged like 7-13mph. If you noticed something not normal about the sail, that's because I learnt afterwards from the guy I got the rev from, that I had installed the vertical spars on the wrong side of the sail. I flew with the spars on the front-side of the kite instead of the back. Oops haha. Flew awesome though, I had a total blast and couldn't stop smiling ! Not a single hard hit the whole hour I had with it. After an hour I switched over to a brand new Synapse 170 too with the wife.. hah, was an absolute complete blast. I'll update later with the video of it too!! I can't wait to fly the rev again, and get better with it!!! AND fly it with the spars on the correct side Lol. Having a difficult time finding any free youtube video tutorial for how to execute that Rev iconic "instant stop" move, it's something I want to figure out as soon as possible to recover from any future mistakes if anyone knows one link please would be appreciated greatly!

I know the Revolution website doesn't show enough photos of the Reflex Technology and RX or XX models.. so thought it would be interesting to some to see some close up photos in the review done recently over at rcgroups. I've been really eyeing a Rx or XX, but total newbie to revs still..my first Rev (used) is "out for delivery" as of this post. hehe

Hi all I'm aware the go-to material for quads like revs are the 3/4oz icarex ripstop nylon. But anyone can help with determining the thread count and density of such .75oz ripstop rev sails use? Assuming 1sqm or sqf. Thanks much!

Thanks makatakam! I have a question. I was browsing for revs using the Kitelife Amazon widget and found this SLE http://amzn.to/2roCSgg Thoughts? It seems like a perfect entry price for my budget and it comes with handles, extra frames, sleeve, except lines.. but not sure how different it is from the vented bseries I tried out. Don't think I've been able to find such a good price to entry anywhere else yet.. so curious now. Yeah as much as I love to support revs and the hobby, just not in the best financial statement yet so any chipping of costs to entry for me (like going with used kite) is important considerations. I can't wait to go flying hahaha. I'm quite sure I'll end up with more than just one kite anyhow.

Got one thnx! Wanting to buy a used Revolution kite! Eyeing a 1.5 B-series, midvent, 3wrap. Since it's gonna be a first ever quad, I'll also be looking for handles and lines. Preference for local deals so we could meet up and skip the hassle of packing for shipping and all that extra effort. Feel free to PM me too, thanks all and really appreciate it! Also looking for any 1.5 style rev (Reflex, Classic, vented, etc.) If you're thinking of letting one of your revs go, pm me please! Has to be RTF.

Quick shoutout to dragonfish for showing me the ropes on revs today! Winds were rather fierce at like 20mph+, but she's well experienced and had her collection with her so we flew with her vented bseries. Much easier to tame than dual line or parafoils I tried in the past and what I had expected going in, was easy enough getting it the the air and back down and some newbie control turns here and there haha, I had fun. No real "splats" today. I've spent lots of hours researching and reading on revs and today's quick field trip has me sold! I'm quite interested in buying a used rev to start with, so if anyone knows anyone looking to sell a bseries, mid vent, maybe handles too, it'll be great if you could connect me! I think local would be a plus so we can skip the shipping hassle. Mostly fly in winds at around 10mph and above as anything lower I'll be occupied with rc stuff. Thanks again dragonfish! Looking forward to flying more soon <-- happy rev newbie

I'll head out there on Sunday then, will pm to arrange, looking forward to it

Dragonfish hello! Thanks and yes I have read that thread prior to joining the forum to post , I like Freleine as an alternative, but with all alternatives I got interested in, there's no difference to entry price point, so might as well go with Rev right...there'll be more around I could test compared to the still-growing alternatives. And yes I have seen many of the prism Delta fliers as well as a few revs the times that ive been there at the kite lot. I was actually around that day flying my RC stuff at the opposite end for what I believe was also the day of the BASKL Fun Fly event day in mid April. There were like 12 revs flying solo, lots of people chatting and flying other kites too. But I had to rush off and missed the opportunity to check out the revs or meet anyone as that period of time was really busy for me. Dust settled now though so back to the kite lot when I can. Would be cool yeah maybe this Sunday we could arrange a first meet/look at any revs you wouldn't mind showing me. We can discuss over pm if you like ! Yup haha I actually watched a lot of the "Kitelife" YouTube tutorials videos like months ago during research. Looks easy to get in and difficult to master. But even then I have my reservations still lol. Excited, looking forward to meeting more of you soon. Also now really interested in purchasing used revs as another buy-in option. The hunt begins with any willing hearts lol. Thank you!

Hi Kitelifers Hoping to meet someone or some folks around me (Berkeley's group is too far) to learn from and also fly with. I come from flying RC stuff like Paraglider and fixed wings and other gliders. Also have now outgrown my single line Prism Bora. Now looking to get into quad kiting and already setting my eyes on a Rev kite. Almost ready to drop on a EXP Rx but actually noting that the kite I would be happier with is the Classic 1.5. I don't mind a learning curve but money is an object for me so I can't get more than 1 kite yet. Close an eye on my kite naming here, just following the new naming conventions that is available to me as a new comer to the sport. I am aware of the Rev history, and have already been doing a fair amount of research and reading on Rev and quad kiting a like. As much as I'd like to purchase an older B series, my current financial situation doesn't allow me the luxury of a premium I'd have to out down on a "now collector's edition". So whatever is available currently on the Rev site is what I will discuss and go with. Hope to make some new friends and to fly soon. Summer is here! Thanks all!

Hi Kitelifers, Edit: August 21 2017 - Follow my Rev Kite learning journey (from day zero to present) in this thread!! Join me, share the failures and achievements, feel free to chime in if you read something you experienced too! I'm brand spanking new hoping to make some awesome new kite friends in the San Francisco Bay area..I'm in Santa Clara and frequent the Kite Lot in Mountain view by Google, flying RC stuff secretly. Ive done research and know there's a Bay Area kite sport league or something, and big kite groups up in Berkeley. That's just too far for my tight schedule. So hoping to meet some folks around closer here that will be willing to "take me under their wing" (or kite). I'm madly interested in the Rev kites. Actually I'm this close to dropping my wallet for the new EXP Rx kite, but at the same time, I really rather just get the Classic 1.5 and spend longer in the learning curve. I don't mean to start anything with the kite naming here, I'm just going with what is available to me today as a new comer. I am aware of the history of Rev and the whole rebranding debacle that happened recently (yes, I've been lurking and researching a ton on Rev kites already even though I've never touched one yet) A mentor and flying friend on the weekends will be awesome, hoping to meet someone really soon whos willing to help guide me to my first purchase. The summer is already here and the winds are insane! Thanks and appreciate all of you.